Behold — le Roi Soleil!
- Type: Tin-lined daubière with brass handles fitted with three copper rivets; cap-style lid with a brass handle fastened with one copper rivet on each bracket
- French description: Daubière fabuleuse étamée et manifiquement martelée avec poignées substantielles en laiton munies de trois rivets impressionants en cuivre; couvercle emboîtant avec poignée en laiton munie d’un puissant rivet en cuivre de chaque côté
- Dimensions: 40cm long by 24cm deep by 22cm tall (15.7 inches by 9.4 inches by 8.7 inches) without lid
- Thickness: 2.5mm at rim
- Weight: 9308g (20.5 lbs) without lid, 11744g (25.9 lbs) with lid
- Stampings: “MADE IN FRANCE”
- Maker and age estimate: Mauviel; 1990s to early 2000s
- Source: harestew
No doubt about it, these big daubières are spectacular. I have named this one for Louis XIV, and like the Sun King it is the center of attention.
This is almost certainly recent Mauviel make, most likely “new old stock” from the last fifteen years or so in unused condition.
The external rivets are smoothly polished.
This is what factory-fresh Mauviel tinning looks like — a smooth and uniform coating with slight marks from hand wiping. The rivets have a concentric circle design that I am coming to think is a Mauviel characteristic.
Mauviel does beautiful martelage that is particularly stunning on the large flat planes of a daubière.
The hammering is visible on the interior surfaces as well, and with the fresh tin, this daubière is beautiful inside and out.
Daubières are considered specialty pieces and indeed a daube can certainly be cooked perfectly well in a covered sauté pan or stewpot. But there is something captivating about them and the whiff of old France they carry with them. Mauviel’s daubières are one of the few items that are still assembled by hand — no spinning lathes or hydraulic presses — and each one feels like a masterpiece.
